


My Brother's Keeper

by ZollnerIllusion



Series: Out of Joint [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Family, Friendship & Love, Some angst, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-06-28 03:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15699567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZollnerIllusion/pseuds/ZollnerIllusion
Summary: Tony Tyler has been given an incredible gift, but now he is being hunted down and he doesn't know why. Is the Doctor his only hope for survival?(Character List will be added to as the story progresses. It is not necessary to read Out of Joint part 1 first, but I do think it will clarify the beginning of the story.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I finished Out of Joint, I was itching to write the next chapter of the Doctor and Rose's life. But as I started to work on it, I found other characters pushing their way quite insistently into the forefront of my mind. They were still in the Out of Joint world, but demanded that their own story be told. I finally bowed to the inevitable and started on this tale. 
> 
> Life has become much busier than when I wrote Out of Joint, so postings for this story may be more sporadic. But I know several people have been curious to see the next chapter, and I hope that posting it pressures me to write a little faster and finish it! :) Thanks so much for reading.

Tony Tyler's first memory was of The Doctor. He was four years old, and he had been at a park with Rose and The Doctor. He was carrying a grape ice lolly, the kind that snaps in two. His sister had bought it from a street vendor nearby. The heat of the summer day was rapidly melting the icy treat, and he wasn't yet skilled at noticing such things. Plop! The ice lolly had fallen on the ground in a sticky smear and Tony was crying his eyes out. The Doctor leaned down and gave him the biggest smile he’d ever seen, or saw since. The manically grinning man whispered that they were about to have a bit of fun. Tony stopped crying long enough to look up and see what the Doctor had planned. The man reached into the pocket of his pinstriped suit, and pulled a magic wand out of his pocket. With a wink at Tony, he pointed it at the grassy area nearby. Instantly, all the sprinklers were running.

"Now," whispered the Doctor. "Let's run!" Together they ran hand in hand through the water. Tony laughed wildly, clutching the older man’s hand tight with his little fingers. It seemed to him that nothing could ever be as good as that moment again.

* * *

In Kindergarten, Tony had come home crushed. Eager to impress his classmates, he had told them all about the dinosaur people who had lived so long ago and hibernated under the earth, waiting for a day when they could safely return. It was his favorite story that the Doctor told him, and the Doctor had assured him that every story he said was true. The other kids had jeered at him, teasing him until he was in tears.

The Doctor had found Tony sitting out by himself near the gazebo, pulling grass from the lawn and throwing it away from him in angry clumps. 

"Hello, little Tyler," the Doctor said. "What seems to be the problem?"

Tony looked up at the Doctor, trying to blink away the tears. Pretending he hadn't been crying.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

The Doctor rocked on his heels, his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets. "Fine. Fine fine fine. A fine state to be in. Good thing you noticed that alien lawn was creeping up on the house. You've stopped it in its tracks. I never did trust ground cover. Almost as untrustworthy as the shrubbery." 

Tony glared at the Doctor. "There's no such thing as dinosaur people!"

The Doctor looked startled. "Well now, who says that then?"

"The other kids in my class..."

"Yep," the Doctor nodded. "They'd know, wouldn't they? Traveled all of time and space, and seen everything? They could tell you about the Silurians, the Raxicorfallipatorians, or the Grand Bazaar of Eginahmet. I bet they could build a hyperphase resonator too."

Tony blushed. "No..."

"So maybe, just maybe, your classmates don't know everything, do they?"

Tony remained silent. 

"Do you think I know everything?" the Doctor asked quietly.

Tony stared at him with wide eyes, considering the question. Slowly, he nodded.

The Doctor gave him a huge grin. "Nah, not me! Or anyone! And that, Tony Tyler, is what is so beautiful about the universe. There is always more to learn, always more to see, always more to know. For your classmates, for you, for me."

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of hardened leathery material.

"What's that?"

"A piece off a Silurian's armor. Picked it up as, well, a souvenir I suppose, a long time ago."

Tony looked at the ridged plate with curiosity written across his face.

"But I suppose I don't have much use for it now. Takes up space. Probably should just get rid of it.” He tossed the dark object from one hand to another. “Unless... Well, I don't suppose you would want it?"

Tony nodded solemnly and the Doctor grinned and dropped it in his hand.  


"Thanks," Tony whispered, turning it over and over. That night, he carefully put it on the shelf above his desk, a space he had saved exclusively for the little gifts and souvenirs the Doctor presented him with. "There's always more to know," he repeated.

* * *

"Watch where you're going then, Tony!" snapped Jackie Tyler, as he pushed past her on the stairs, heading down them three at a time. "Where's the fire?" she called after him.

Tony didn't answer her; there was no time. He leaped the stairs as madly as only a seven and a half year old on a mission could manage. The mail had come, Tony knew. He had seen the postman drive by in his van. And the mail meant one thing – the chance of a postcard from Rose and the Doctor.

He ran at top speed across the large front lawn towards the gate. He approached the mailbox that was built into the large stone wall and could be opened from either side. Enough of the media had bothered his family that they kept their mail secured at all times. But from the inside of the gate, it was easy to reach.

Tony pulled up the bundle and carried it to the house, going through it on the dining room table. Sure enough, sandwiched between a power bill and some sort of business letter for his dad, was the postcard. The picture on the card showed a man sitting on the ground in rolled up pants, and a brown shirt and hat, playing a whistle. He held a leash attached to an apathetic looking llama standing behind him.

Tony turned the card over. The writing was the Doctor's. Mostly the Doctor wrote, but sometimes Rose did. He peered at the tiny cursive. The Doctor always had so much to say, but seemed to enjoy the challenge of cramming it all onto a single postcard.

_Hello Tony! Greetings from Cusco, Peru! This used to be an Incan capital. They built the city in the shape of a puma! Imagine, animal based architecture! Rose found some little shops to explore, so I decided to take a detour to a hill called the Temple of the Moon. Turns out the Incans believed in three planes: the Heavens, Earth and the Underworld. This temple may have been a means of communicating between the Silurians in the ‘Underworld’ and a bird-like race from Artan VII in the ‘Heavens’... Well, it was all a bit of a confusing mess, but we got it sorted out. Rose may have had to collapse a tunnel entrance to block some of the bird people, but let's not tell the Peruvian government that, hmm? Can't wait to see you at Christmas, little Tyler! --The Doctor_

Tony carried the postcard back up to his room, pulled out the large shoebox from under his bed, and slipped it on top of the ever growing stack of postcards within. He missed both the Doctor and Rose. They had been traveling the world for the past two years, and every week without fail, he'd been sent a postcard recounting their adventures. Tony wanted more than anything to be like the Doctor when he grew up. The adventures of the Doctor and Rose were amazing, and he had already begun to feel confined by the routine of the house and school. He didn't have many friends at school, and no close ones. Anyone he'd grown close enough with to share his love of the unusual and exciting stories had laughed or simply not believed them. It was disheartening.

Sometimes the Doctor and Rose flew home. For important days, mostly, like his birthday, Christmas, that sort of thing. He'd noticed lately that the Doctor was changing. He looked older and more tired. Anytime he'd tried to bring it up with either of them, the Doctor would distract him with a tale of a wild adventure, and Rose would frown, look distracted, and change the subject. He thought maybe they needed a vacation from their travels.

* * *

Tony sat on his bed, hugging his knees. He felt terrible. Sick, scared and miserable. Two weeks ago, Rose and the Doctor had flown home for the first time in six months. He had wanted to go to the airport to meet them. He _always_ went to the airport to meet them. But this time, his dad had given him a strange, sympathetic look then told him that he couldn't come.

While his father was gone at the airport, his mum had sat him down on the couch. He could tell she had something upsetting to tell him by the way she seemed uncharacteristically quiet. 

"Sweetheart, I've news for you, and it isn't good," she had said. "The Doctor... Something's wrong with him. He's been getting older and now he's sick."

His eyes widened. "But they can help him, right? He can go to hospital and the doctors will fix him."

Jackie sighed and ran her hand through his hair. "Sometimes there are things that can't be fixed. Just be there for your sister, all right? She'll need us to be strong for her. Do you think you can do that?"

He had nodded solemnly. When Dad came home in the black Lexus, Rose had climbed out first then gone to the back passenger door and opened it. She'd reached inside, and helped the Doctor out. Tony had stared. The Doctor was transformed. He had been looking older before, but now he was positively ancient. His hair had turned completely white and thinned considerably. His limbs were skinny and bent awkwardly. Every move the Doctor made was difficult and deliberate. And his face... Lines of age criss-crossed every surface of his skin. It was impossible to imagine him as the young vibrant man he had been just three years earlier. The Doctor had looked up and smiled at Tony. It was the same smile he had always had, so full of vibrant optimism. Tony turned and fled.

The Doctor and Rose had stayed at the house for three days. Tony tried to avoid them as much as possible. At first, he had tried just staying in his room and pretending to be sick, but finally Jackie had stormed in and ordered him downstairs in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. So he had come down for meals as necessary, and stared at his plate. The Doctor had tried talking to him a couple of times, but Tony would answer monosyllabically and look at him as little as possible. Eventually, the Doctor would be overcome by coughing or a fit of fatigue, and everyone's attention would move away from Tony again.

On the third day, Rose had come into his room, where he sat playing a game on his game console. He didn't look up, and she said nothing, but sat down next to him on his bed. The colorful characters careened around the screen, and Tony jabbed the controller violently, trying to crush some cartoonish enemies with a particularly erratic move.

Rose bumped his shoulder. "Everythin' all right, Ton'?"

Tony shrugged, and continued to play his game.

"You've been pretty quiet since we got back." Rose looked over at him. He didn't respond, his eyes glued to the television. She frowned thoughtfully.

"It hurts me too, Ton', seein’ him like this." She saw Tony's eyes flicker towards her, but he remained silent. "The Doctor and I, well, I think I loved him since the day I met him. He has that effect on people, doesn't he?" She smiled.

Tony nodded.

"I... We... We're going to lose him, Ton'. I thought he'd find a way to get better, but I guess..." Her voice broke. He put down his controller and turned to look at her. Rose’s eyes had filled with tears, and he saw that she was barely holding it together. She suddenly pulled him in for a hug, and he didn’t resist. As she wept into his hair, his own eyes betrayed him with the hot sting of tears.  
When at last Rose released him, he said softly, “It’s not fair.”  
“Yeah,” she said. “You’re right. Of all the people… no, it’s not fair.” She didn’t seem to have more to say, and soon he picked up his controller again, and went back to playing, while Rose silently watched the characters flicker on the television.

* * *

The next morning, the Doctor was in hospital. Tony was left at home with his father, Jackie having elected to accompany Rose. He didn’t understand why he and his dad weren’t there too.  


“We will be, son,” Pete finally said. “But your mum and Rose, they have… well, he’s very special to them.”  


Tony had scowled. The Doctor was very special to _him_. He realized that his father didn’t understand the connection he and the Doctor had formed over the years. Tony couldn’t imagine growing up to become his father; it was only the Doctor that he dreamed of being. But it wouldn’t help to argue about it now.  


Several hours later, Pete led him to a car, and it was their turn. The hospital was an alien place to Tony, with its cold sterile hallways, and strange machines. It twisted his stomach to imagine the Doctor, so curious and full of life, in such a hollow place. They had taken an elevator and several corridors, and then they were at the Doctor’s room.  


Jackie was outside the room. “Just givin’ them a bit of privacy. But he’s been asking after you, Tony.” She bent down to be level with his face. “He’s dyin’, sweetheart. It’s a hard thing to see. But he’d like to see you, so try to be brave.” She kissed the top of his head and straightened.  


Tony took a deep breath, and stepped into the hospital room. The lights were dimmed a little. A television was mounted high on the wall, but it had been left off. There was a single bed, and in it, the Doctor’s form rested. He seemed to be shriveling into himself, Tony thought. Soon there wouldn’t be anything left.  


Rose sat next to the bed, and she was holding his hand. She looked sad and angry and trying to suppress all these things. She just stroked the back of his hand with her thumb and stared into his eyes. Tony scuffed his feet a little, feeling awkward at his intrusion on such an intimate scene.  


She looked up at him, startled, and the Doctor’s eyes weakly focused on him. Getting up, she walked over to him, then told him in a hushed voice, “He’d like a few minutes with you, Ton’. To say goodbye. Just come out when you’re done, okay?” Rose gave him a tight hug and left the room.  


Tony stood, and stared at the ghost of a man on the bed.  


“Now, now, little Tyler,” said a faint version of the voice he remembered. “No waiting around. For a Time Lord, I seem to be strangely short on time, so we’ll have to make the best of what I have.”  


Tony shuffled closer, and sat down on the chair Rose had left. The Doctor turned and stared into Tony’s eyes. He couldn’t help but think that the expression in those eyes was the only thing left of the Doctor he remembered.  


“I’m sorry I won’t be around to see you grow up, Tony,” he said. “I had another brother, once upon a time. An older one. I’ve tried not to make the mistakes he did, you see. It’s been wonderful. I didn’t think I’d have a family again, not after everything…” He stopped and coughed weakly for a minute, then sighed. “Well, it’s been nice to have one.”  


Tony nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak. The tears were hiding just behind his eyes, and any false movement would cause them to flow. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop them if they did.  
“I’ve got a couple gifts for you, Tony,” the Doctor continued. He seemed unconcerned by Tony’s silence. “One is sort of an ongoing gift. Really, a project I started a few years ago.” A ghost of the Doctor’s manic smile drifted across his face. “Think of it like the fairies’ gifts to Cinderella. Well, just one fairy. Not that I am, in fact, magic. And I don’t have wings. And you are definitely _not_ Cinderella. I mean you’ve got the hair and eyes, but really, not the figure. Anyway… Tony Tyler, I grant you the gift of cleverness. Not that you wouldn’t have been on your own, but, well, let’s just say I greased the wheels a bit. Here, lean in, and I’ll tell you.”  


Tony was curious by the sudden turn of conversation. He leaned in close to the Doctor and the Doctor turned just enough to press his forehead against Tony’s.  


Suddenly, Tony was assaulted by a blast of images. They whirled around his mind, and he felt dizzy and ready to pass out. Then, just as quickly as they came, they faded away. The boy reeled back from the Doctor, clutching his head.  


The Doctor smiled sympathetically. “Sorry about that, Tony. I’m afraid I no longer have the time for subtlety.” Tony was still recovering, but the Doctor continued, ignoring the younger Tyler’s confused state. “That was part of the second gift…” Once again, the Doctor paused to cough, but this time it was long and wracking. Tony could hear a wet bubbling behind its harshness.  


“The second gift,” gasped the Doctor, who seemed grimly determined to finish. “You’ll find that at home. Don’t lose it. Well, really, you can’t lose it. Impossible. Or at least highly unlikely. I added a mild telepathic impulse to keep you from misplacing it.” He smiled again. His raised his hand from the bed weakly and Tony clasped it. “It was wonderful having a brother once again. And I know you will have whatever success in life you wish.” He squeezed Tony’s hand once, and sighed. “Now you’d better send Rose in. I don’t think I have much left in me.”  


Tony nodded and stood. He fought back the tears, and took one long, last look at the Doctor. Then abruptly, he turned and left the room. As soon as he emerged, Rose barely glanced at him before she hurried into the room. Pete clasped his shoulder, and Jackie gave him a big hug. The tears spilled down his cheeks as his mother stroked his back and whispered meaningless soothing words into his ear. They weren’t enough.

* * *

He waited on a bench outside the hospital room between his mother and father and stared at the clock on the wall ticking. An hour later, Rose emerged. Jackie took one look at her and wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding tight as the younger woman sobbed endlessly. Tony watched the scene dispassionately, and realized that he would have no idea how to act around Rose, now that the Doctor was gone. To him, they had been a unit. The Doctor and Rose. He never really remembered a time they hadn’t been inseparable.  


On the way home, Tony found himself silent and numb. Pete drove him to a small restaurant Tony had never seen before. They sat in a cheap red vinyl booth and he ordered a hamburger and a large chocolate milkshake. Not that he wanted them, but Pete seemed to expect him to do something of the sort and he didn’t feel like making the effort to argue. He picked at the chips and barely tasted the milkshake. Instead, he looked out the window at the dark and rainy evening, and watched the raindrops race each other down the pane of glass.  


After dinner, they drove back to the house, and on the way, Tony realized that what bothered him most was how much smaller and greyer everything seemed. It was as though the entire world was diminished without the Doctor in it. For the first time, he thought that perhaps it was a world he didn’t want to be in.

* * *

Pete pulled the car smoothly into the garage, and Tony got out. He could tell his dad was concerned. There were far too many thoughtful looks, and no complaints when Tony allowed the door from the garage to the house to slam shut with a bang as he so often did. Tony politely excused himself, saying he felt like getting some sleep, and Pete had squeezed his shoulder again and said that they could talk in the morning. Tony couldn’t imagine what Pete could possibly say then that would be helpful.  


The stairs seemed endless now, and Tony trudged up them one by one, until he reached his room at the end of the hall. He pushed the door open, and kicked off his shoes and jacket, not bothering to turn on the light. Only once he was down to his superhero underwear did he click on the small table lamp next to his bed. And that’s when he noticed the cube.  


The cube was small and a featureless, a shiny black. It was about half again larger than the sort of dice you found in a board game box, and the corners were very slightly rounded. Tony stared at it. He was certain he had never seen it before in his life.  


His curiosity managed to burn through the haze of depression and exhaustion, and he leaned forward to pick up the cube. As he brought it towards him for a better look, he felt it grow a little warm. Before he could drop it, a beam of light shot out from the top. Tony blinked at the sudden glare as the light quickly rearranged itself into the form of the Doctor. Not quite the Doctor, but a flickering projection about a foot tall emanating from the cube’s surface.  


The Doctor turned and grinned directly at Tony. “Well, hello! You didn’t think I was gone, did you?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Sorry for the delay. I think the universe knew I was about to start posting and decided it was time for my life to temporarily explode. But all the pieces have been gathered, and (mostly) put back to their respective places, and I'll hopefully be posting at a much more regular interval._

Tony stared in shock at the image of the Doctor standing before him. He tilted the cube in his hand, but the projection always shined upwards.

The Doctor grinned. “Cat got your tongue, Tony? What do you think? Not a bad magic trick, I’d say.”

“Are you alive?” Tony whispered.

The Doctor looked uncomfortable and tilted his head, tugging on his ear. “Wellllll, about that. No. No, I’m not alive, Tony. I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything I could do.”

“Then what’s the use of you?” Tony shouted. Before he could think, he threw the cube across the room, hard. It bounced off the wall and the image turned off. Tony gaped in horror and regret. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, staring at the cube.

The door to the bedroom opened, and Pete stuck in his head. “Everything okay?” He looked worried.

Tony nodded. “Yeah… I… sorry, Dad.” He stared at the floor.

Pete walked into the room and clasped his shoulder. “We’re all going to miss him. Blimey, I can imagine him here now, talkin’ a mile a minute like he does.” He sighed. “We just have to keep him alive up here.” He tapped his head.

Tony looked up at his dad and nodded, and when he said nothing more, Pete squeezed his shoulder again and left the room with a quick, “Night, son.”

Once the door clicked closed, Tony crept toward the cube, lying innocently on the cream colored carpet. He stared at it a moment, then nudged it with his toe. Nothing happened.

Reaching down, he slowly lifted the cube. Once again, it grew warm to the touch. And in a moment, just as before, there was the Doctor standing in miniature in front of him.

“Good thing I made this durable!” The Doctor grinned at him again, shoving his hands in his pockets. When Tony said nothing, he added, “I suppose you want to know just what it is you’re holding?”

Tony nodded.

“Well, I’d describe it as an interphrenic disassociative resonance cube.” He paused at Tony’s blank look. “Not ringing any bells? Ah. Well. I’ve left some bits of me in this cube. Not all of me, mind. Lots of memories, gone. Emotions? Not really. Just simulated a few to make the verbal interface comfortable. And it’s keyed to your brain waves, so really this cube is just unlocking an image in your mind.”

“So no one can see you but me?” Tony asked.

“Bright boy! Yes. Exactly! It’s probably best you not speak to me in front of anyone else. They might think you’re a bit, well, mad.”

“Rose wouldn’t. She’d believe me.”

The image shifted uncomfortably. “Ah, well, yes. She probably would, at that. But… don’t tell her, Tony. Let’s keep this between us, what do you say?”

“Why?”

“I think… your sister’s going to have a rough time. But it will get better! It will! But perhaps not if I’m… hanging around, you see. I’m here, but I’m not here. That would be difficult for her to understand, and it might make it harder to- well, feel better, I suppose.” The Doctor ran his hand through his hair.

“Why me? Why am I the only one who can see you?”

“You’re my little brother, Tony Tyler! I wish I had a chance to see you grow up. But if I’m going to miss that, well, I’d like to think that I at least helped you along. You can talk to me, get advice, just like I were still around. Mostly. I mean, I can’t play catch. But still – useful!”

The boy looked thoughtful. “You said you gave me the gift of cleverness.”

The Doctor grinned broadly, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Right! That! Well, you were already a clever boy, but being as young as you were, well, the brain is more flexible then. It was easy to improve a few synapses here and there. And now, well, you… you’re not just clever, you’re going to be really clever. Maybe, possibly, a little too clever. Again, you might want to keep that to yourself. Humans have an unfortunate tendency to take apart things… and people… they don’t understand. So, just go along as you have been. Video games. Telly. Football. Normal pursuits for a boy your age, and no one will notice.”

Tony felt his pulse pound with excitement. From the moment they had run through the sprinklers together, all he had ever wanted was to be just like the Doctor. It had seemed like an impossibly lofty goal, but now, with just these words, the Doctor had handed him the means to finally achieve it.

Suddenly, he felt a sweeping wave of exhaustion. He let out a huge yawn.

“That’s your brain trying to compensate with everything it’s been fed tonight. You’re going to be pretty tired for the next several days. But we’ll talk again, all right?” The Doctor looked sympathetic.

The boy’s eyes felt like lead weights. Suddenly, he could barely keep them open. He put the cube down on the end table, and the Doctor instantly vanished. Crawling under the covers, Tony faded without pause into blissful darkness.

<hr>

The Doctor was right. For the next several days, all Tony could manage was to crawl out of bed for meals, sit exhaustedly on the couch for a spell, and head back to bed. He heard his parents talking a bit about his behavior, using words like ‘depression’ and ‘therapist’, but he couldn’t bring himself to be bothered. Fortunately, they seemed even more distracted by Rose, who was staying at the house and seemed just as listless as he was. His parents were rarely able to get more than a few words out of her. Tony felt he should be concerned, but he couldn’t find the energy to talk about it.

This continued until the morning his eyes flipped open and he felt his body bursting with energy. He leapt up, noticing everything in the room all at once. The sun was streaming in through the windows. His room had been tidied while he slept. A glass of water had been left on his bedside table beside the cube. The cube! That was still there. He grabbed it eagerly.

The Doctor popped up immediately. “Hello Tony Tyler! Feeling a bit better now?”

Tony smiled. “Yeah! Great!”

The Doctor nodded sagely. “Your brain has managed to adapt to everything it’s been fed, and you should be over the worst of it.”

Tony nodded. He felt anxious to leave the bedroom and start exploring. “Yeah… and everything’s so… fantastic, Doctor! I feel like everything around me is so fascinating. If I could just go out and find out more…”

“Excellent! Go out! Start reading a few books! Try the library! But Tony… remember what I said, just between you and I. A normal boy, right?”

“Yeah. Normal boy. Got it.” Tony pocketed the cube, and headed downstairs. Jackie was in the living room on the plush grey couch, reading one of the cheap romance novels she always seemed to have on hand.

“Morning, Mum!” Tony grinned. “I’m starved.”

Jackie looked up with surprised pleasure. “Hungry? Well that’s a welcome change. You haven’t wanted a bite for days.” She got up and he followed her into the kitchen. “What’re you cravin’, then? Eggs? Bacon!”

“Yeah. All that, Mum. It all sounds good.”

She nodded, but gave him a slightly concerned glance. He remembered the Doctor’s warning, and toned down his cheery attitude. “Um, Mum. How’s Rose?”

Jackie put a pan on the stove and began rummaging in the fridge. “Well, I’ll tell you the truth sweetheart, she’s not doing well. I’m glad you’re up and about. Maybe you can talk to her. It’s worse than the last… I mean, well, I’ve never seen her quite so bad. It’s not surprising, though. Only time can help her now.”

Tony nodded. He waited with impatience while his mother put together breakfast, then devoured it all. He still felt hungry afterwards, and after his mother had departed, he ate several pieces of bread and marmalade, a few hardboiled eggs, and a tin of baked beans without bothering to warm it first.

Finally feeling somewhat sated, he walked back upstairs to the little room that Rose used when she and the Doctor had stayed nights. He frowned. Just Rose, now. Though the Doctor was riding around in a cube in his pocket. This was going to take some getting used to.

He knocked lightly on the door. “Come in,” came the muffled reply.

Tony walked into the room. Rose was sitting back on the pale pink bedspread, leaning on her hands. She seemed to be just staring out the window.

She glanced over at him. “You look like you’re doing a little better.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. A bit.” He sat down next to her.

“’S hard, Ton’. ‘S just really, really hard.” She kept looking out the window. “How do you feel?”

“Sad, I guess. Confused.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Just, most of what I feel is angry. Angry at the world… angry at him. It’s hard not to be angry at everything.”

Tony leaned over and gave his sister a hug. She hugged him back, so hard he could barely breathe, but this time there were no tears. He wondered when the tears would come.

After a long time, she released him and looked at him intently. “Go Tony… Make Mum and Dad happy. They’re going to worry about me, but… I don’t need them to worry. I just need to know they’re happy. All righ’?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Sure.” Rose’s words had the ring of truth. He was going to need to hold his family together right now, and his big sister wouldn’t be able to do it. Tony would do whatever was necessary.

<hr>

Over the next year, Tony focused on two things: being an ordinary teenager, and keeping his family from fracturing in the wake of the Doctor’s death.

The former was surprisingly easy. School was a breeze now, but he made sure his work stayed expectedly average. After school, he played sports with friends, and on weekends, Jackie would have to pry him off his game consoles to do his homework. Rose’s ongoing depression meant that his family was relieved not to have to worry about him after all. They sent him to a grief counselor once, but he read several books about coping with grief ahead of time and made sure his answers sounded like he was neither exceptionally depressed, nor far too happy.

His evenings after bedtime were spent reading dense library books and chatting with the Doctor about them. It was amazing to him how much more easily he could grasp the ideas that he read. The Doctor encouraged him especially to explore the sciences. It was a relief to have someone to talk to about his thoughts, and he wondered if that was why the Doctor had provided him the cube, knowing he would be far too lonely if he truly kept his secret. Tony went to extreme lengths to keep his rapid strides in learning from his family and friends. He never checked out books outside of his ordinary reading range from the school library. Instead, he found the local public library and got a card, sneaking off there with a football under his arm, as though he was heading to the park. Researching online also provided many answers for him, and he was careful to erase his browser history and remove any other footprints he left electronically. He quickly became an expert at covering his tracks.

Keeping his family together was much more difficult. None of the Doctor’s improvements changed his emotional maturity for his age, and he would become alternately depressed, frustrated, and sometimes just oblivious to his family needs. It was obvious to him that Rose only thought about the Doctor now. She took a leave of absence from work for several months, and Jackie spent half the time being sympathetic, and the other half of the time frustrated with her lack of success in rousing her daughter from her grief. Pete seemed to be more understanding, but also didn’t seem to feel there was anything he could say or do. Perhaps he couldn’t.

After several months, Tony decided to talk to the Doctor about it. He had only really been consulting the Doctor on matters of learning. The image had said its emotional range was limited. But he felt it was worth a shot. There wasn’t anyone else to talk to, after all. The Doctor’s reaction was a little unsettling. He seemed to chuckle and behave as though unconcerned, but Tony could swear there was a haunted look in his eyes.

“Your sister is a brilliant woman, Tony, just brilliant. It’s not good for her to have only her memories for company. She needs a purpose. Help her find one, and you’ll help her move on.” The Doctor had winked off then, before Tony had let go of the cube. That had never happened before.

Tony decided to find out more about his sister’s work before the Doctor’s illness. Perhaps he could find a way to encourage her to go back to work.

At dinner, he asked his father, “Dad, what sort of work did Rose do at Vitex? You know, before she was traveling?”

Pete looked surprised and uncomfortable. “Yeah, well. She… she did marketing, Tony. Came up with great ideas. About where we could take the brand. Get more people to buy it. That sort of thing.”

Tony tried further questions without much success. Pete seemed evasive in his answers, and the boy could see his father was hiding something. The more secretive his father seemed, the more curious Tony became. His parents, for all their wealth, were the most bland, ordinary people he could imagine. Like any child, the idea that his mother and father could have hidden depths was unbelievable. But Tony kept his eyes open now, and he began to notice little things. His father’s office at home had a fingerprint lock. They already had a few guards around the exterior walls, excellent security and motion detectors in the house. Why should his father’s office, alone of all the rooms in the house, require a special lock? He was determined to find out.

His first step was to begin researching fingerprint scanners and how to defeat them. As he read through relevant websites, he realized that he was enjoying this challenge for its own merit, and not merely to satisfy his curiosity about the locked room. Tony came up with a plan quickly. He could make a mold of Pete’s hand by pretending he was doing it for an art project. He would go directly to his dad about this, as he noticed that he was surprisingly clueless about the sort of things a boy his age would do in school. Odd, really, since he had already had one daughter finish school, even if she hadn’t completed her A-levels.

He picked a day when Jackie had taken Rose out shopping; she had been hoping to distract her from thoughts about the Doctor that day. Pete was sitting at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee, scanning the news on his phone.

“Dad, can I ask a favor?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Well, we have an art project at school. About family. And I thought it would be cool to cast a replica of your hand. Like a symbol.”

Pete sipped his coffee. “Sure. What do I need to do?”

Tony smiled. “Just sit there and I’ll take care of the rest.” The boy had already researched how to make molds and soon had exactly what he needed. He might have to make a plaster cast later, just to make his father think he had turned in an art project, but for now all he would need is to press some rubber cement against the thumb area and make a quick fake print.

That night, Tony crept down to the study with the false cover on his thumb. Pressing it down, he was relieved to see the reader turn from red to green without complaint. The lock clicked open quietly. This wouldn’t have been nearly so easy if he weren’t abusing his dad’s trust. He felt a little guilty.

Tony had been inside Pete’s study many times, so he wasted no time looking around the office. After shutting the door quietly, he moved directly to the computer. It was locked, but Tony had been watching Pete for days, and saw him enter his password earlier this week. Less sharp eyes would not have caught the quickly entered sequence, but thanks to his slightly heightened senses, another benefit of the Doctor’s synaptic influence, he was able to see the code and memorize it for later.

He began to search through his Dad’s mail. It was full of dull Vitex business dealings. Tony hadn’t studied much in the way of finance or business yet, and his eyes glazed over. He felt disappointed. The boy had been certain his father had been keeping some sort of secret. He spun around in the swivel chair, thinking about his options.

It would probably not be a good idea to try to break in here frequently. If he was going to find anything, it would be tonight. But he was already feeling tired and more than a little bored. Sighing, he decided to go slightly deeper into Pete’s files before he shut down the computer.  Most of the documents, like the mail, were quite dull. Business files. Expense reports. He found some heavily locked financial spreadsheets. They didn’t interest him much, but he had fun breaking into them just for the practice. He opened one up, and his eight year old eyes glazed over at the rows and columns of numbers. Most of the phrases in it were obvious and of little interest. But hidden in the third tab of one of the spreadsheets was a curious word, one he had never heard his father utter before. Tony couldn’t imagine what it possibly meant, but somehow it leapt off the page and stood out from the dense block of information. It was as though his brain had directed him to find that single world. Torchwood.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony spent the next few years figuring out exactly what Torchwood was. Simple investigation revealed some basic facts. The Torchwood Institute had been a research institution with little information available about it. Following the creation of the Cybermen by Lumic Industries, the People’s Republic took control of the Torchwood Institute. Beyond that, there was little information that was publicly known. Slowly, he learned that there was a clandestine side to the organization that was whispered about only in rumors and wild conspiracy theories, and it seemed to have grown in scope tremendously during the last ten years.

His first course of action after his internet research reached a dead end was to consult the Doctor. He waited for an afternoon when his parents would be out. They had left their housekeeper Sophie to watch him, but Tony knew that she had too much work to do to pay much mind to what he was up to. As long as he didn’t make noise or set the house on fire, he was left to his own devices. Creeping up to his room, he pulled the black cube out of his pocket. It felt warm and comforting in his hand. Almost immediately, the image of the Doctor appeared, smiling at Tony in his usual friendly fashion.

“Tony! What a pleasant surprise!” The Doctor grinned broadly.

“Er… how can it be a surprise when I’m the only one who can see you?”

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. “Good point, good point. All right, I admit, it wasn’t much of a surprise. I just thought I’d pretend to be surprised this go around, make things seem a little more interesting. You know, when a human gets surprised, the body releases a lot of stress hormones and adrenalin. It can actually kill people… rather odd that humans consider surprises pleasant-“

“Er, Doctor?” Tony interrupted. “I wondered if I could ask you about something.”

“Ask away, little Tyler! That’s what I’m here for! I mean that literally, you know. I wouldn’t be here at all, except-“

“Right, yeah,” the boy continued. “So have you heard of something called the Torchwood Institute?”

The Doctor froze, and his eyes widened just slightly. “Torchwood, eh?” He lowered his voice. “Well, Tony Tyler, just what have you been up to?” The Doctor’s expression looked more intrigued than displeased.

“I, ah…” Tony decided that maybe the truth would just be the simplest path. “I broke into my dad’s office. And I found it… in one of his files, it was mentioned just as Torchwood. I looked it up, but there isn’t much about it online. Only there are some alien conspiracy websites. You know, the barking kind, and they mention Torchwood sometimes.”

“Right, right…” The Doctor looked thoughtful. “Sorry, I’ve nothing for you.”

Tony frowned. It was obvious the Doctor had recognized the word, and he had never refused to share information with him before. “Doctor? Come on, tell me. It’s something to do with my family, with Rose an’ all.”

“Sorry, Ton’. This is one mystery you’re going to have to figure out for yourself.” The image grinned at him. “But I know you’re up to it. Consider it your first big puzzle.” And with that, the Doctor’s projection simply winked out. Tony knew that asking again would be no use. The Doctor wanted him to find out on his own, even if he didn’t understand why.

Since his dad was clearly involved, it seemed he should start with determining his family’s involvement. His father had hidden any references to the Torchwood Institute very well. And Tony had no doubt that he would be detected if he tried to follow his father secretly. Not to mention that at the age of 11, he wasn’t even able to drive.

He had tried to find out more through Rose, but initially met with limited success. For a year after the Doctor’s death, she had been silent and brooding. At first she had stayed at the mansion, but soon she had moved back into her old flat. Tony had tried to visit her, and encouraged her to get out and see others, but she had started dodging his visits and calls if it seemed like he wanted to do anything more serious than sit around and watch old movies with her. Watching old movies with Rose _was_ entertaining, particularly as she always seemed to be very confused about the plots, almost as though she remembered entirely different versions of the films. But it didn’t help him progress in his goal of finding out more about Torchwood or finding her a purpose.

It seemed she didn’t need Tony’s help in recovering, though, as one day she had showed up at the mansion and flatly stated that she was ready to go back to work. At this point, Tony had learned enough about Torchwood to suspect that it was where Rose had worked prior to her travels with the Doctor. It made sense. His sister didn’t seem to know any more about business than he did. And her adventures with the Doctor were more in line with the sort of thing someone who worked as an extraterrestrial investigator would do in their spare time. Was a marketing executive likely to enjoy being chased down hallways by swarms of robotic bees? The Doctor had an enormous amount of knowledge about aliens as well. Tony wasn’t sure whether the Doctor had also worked at Torchwood, but it made sense. He never would tell Tony just how he knew all the things he did.

So Tony had started watching Rose carefully. He determined where she went and what sort of schedule she kept. The boy knew just where she secreted strange technology in her flat. When she had a sudden injury, he suspected she hadn’t gotten it skiing or trying a new cooking class, but in a strange alien encounter. It was thrilling to him, just as thrilling as the postcards she and the Doctor used to send from their travels. He wished someone would just confide in him.

* * *

Two more years went by, with Tony quietly trying to discover anything he could about his father and sister’s business. (It was obvious to him that Jackie wasn’t involved, although she did know more than she let on. He caught her telling off Rose on a few occasions when he suspected Rose had been involved with a particularly dangerous confrontation with aliens.) On the side, he was still doing constant research into the sciences with the continual encouragement of the Doctor in the cube. He especially liked physics, and the Doctor seemed especially pleased with his choice in sciences, suggesting that dimensional theory might be right up his alley.

Tony felt good whenever the Doctor got a proud expression as he explained his latest discoveries to him. The boy loved his dad, but he couldn’t share his research with Pete. In many ways, he thought of the Doctor as more of a father to him. Despite this, he cared for his family, and continued trying to keep them happy and unified, although Rose never did seem to recover fully. She worked a lot, and he was pretty sure she had no friends. He didn’t even get to see her as often as he’d like. Between school and his own explorations, he had little time left for his sister’s sadness. And the Doctor in the cube seemed uncomfortable when he tried to talk about her. Tony swore he saw guilt etched into the tiny image’s face.

When Tony was 13, things finally seemed as settled as they were going to get. His parents were calm and unconcerned about their family. If Rose wasn’t happy, she at least didn’t seem to be miserable. And Tony had continued to successfully hide his own ambitions behind the apathetic guise of a teen whose only goal in life was to beat his friends at any multiplayer game he touched. He had already determined that once he finished high school, he would confront his father about Torchwood and perhaps get a job there. And the Doctor-in-a-Cube was still a good friend, and had recently been suggesting that he steer his future research toward dimensional theory, which did seem to be a curious field to explore.

And that was when it all fell apart.

It started when Tony had heard his parents speaking in whispers one day, but he had trouble piecing together their discussions. Something about being back, and Rose, and whether she’d stay. Despite his excellent hearing, Tony wasn’t able to figure out what was happening, only that everyone was acting very strange. His mum in particular was walking around the mansion like a bomb might go off at any moment, jumping every time the phone rang. He’d catch her sometimes looking wistfully at nothing in particular, and if she spotted him during these moods, she would give him a big hug. When Rose appeared at a Vitex party with a mysterious grey-haired stranger, Tony suddenly realized that all of this tension and tense conversations likely had to do with the man she had brought.

He didn’t have much of a chance to study him before the man left the room, but his impression wasn’t too positive. The man seemed far too old for his sister, in Tony’s admittedly limited experience. He also seemed sarcastic and not interested in conversation. But every time Rose looked across the room at him, her entire face lit up. Later that night, Tony was raiding the buffet table when he saw them out on the dance floor. There was an intimacy in their body language that broadcast loud and clear that they were a couple, and the man _had_ said he was her date. He wondered who the stranger was, and whether Rose would finally be happy again. Rose had said she had met him at work, so he likely belonged to Torchwood. Tony idly wondered if he was a scientist. Maybe he’d finally have a real person to talk to.

The second time Tony met the man, his sister was leaving. Jackie had hustled him into the car one morning, telling him they had to go to Rose’s right away. She wouldn’t tell him why, but she was obviously emotional. In tears one moment, and muttering to herself or Pete that it was ‘the right thing, after all.’ Tony was worried by his mum’s distress, but kept silent on the ride over, hoping to figure out what was going on.

Before he knew it, he was sitting in the flat, uncomfortably drinking a too hot cup of tea, and listening to his sister say, “Mum, Dad… I… I needed to tell you that I’m leavin’. The Doctor asked me to go with him-“

Jackie let out a loud snort. “Well, what did I tell you? You never could see that man only had eyes for you. Not likely he was going to fly out of here without asking.”

Tony was stunned and confused. What could they be saying? He knew the Doctor’s physical body had died. He carried the Doctor in his pocket. There was no way it could all be a lie.

“But- the Doctor’s dead… isn’t he? Rose?” He couldn’t consult the Doctor in front of the others, so he had to hope that his sister would explain and tell him something that made sense.

She crouched beside him to give him a hug. “Oh, Ton', he did die. But I never told you the whole story, about the Doctor and I. It’s long, and complicated, and I’m sure Mum and Dad will be able to answer all your questions after I’ve left. But it was sort of like he was split into two people before you met him, only both halves were the same.”

“Mitosis.” The word slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

“What?”

Tony felt like he was separated from his body, watching himself say and do the sort of inadvisable things the Doctor had warned him about all along. “Mitosis. We learned a bit about it in class… a cell splits in two, only the new cells are the same.” He at least tried to cover his gaffe by mentioning school, but it was easy to see from his sister’s expression that she hadn’t expected an answer like that from him.

“Um, yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. So it was like that. They were kind of the same person, but once they split, they had different lives. An’ one of them lived here and we were married. The other one, well, he was in another world… kind of like ours, but different.” Rose seemed hesitant, as though she weren’t telling him the whole story. She probably wasn’t, Tony thought with sudden bitterness. It seemed their family was founded on secrets. His secret from them. Rose and Dad’s secrets about Torchwod. And now these secrets about the Doctor. That pained him. He thought the Doctor was the one person who he didn’t need to keep secrets from, and who hadn’t kept secrets from him.

His bitterness turned to a sudden, sharp anger and created a harsh tone behind in his words. “So the Doctor you’re leaving with… he won’t remember me, will he? And he won’t remember being married to you either? I mean, he’s the same person, but my Doctor… our Doctor, he’s still dead, isn’t he? Why would you leave with this Doctor then?”

“Well, I had a history with the Doctor, before he split. And we helped a lot of people. It was sort of like our job. I miss that, Tony, and I miss him too.”

Tony closed his eyes for a moment with sudden guilt. She missed him so much, and for the last five years, the Doctor had been his closest companion. He knew it had been the Doctor who had advised him against telling Rose, that it would be cruel. But now he wondered if he had truly been the cruel one, by withholding him from her. Rose hugged him, and he felt worse.

And now the door to the spare room flew open, and the grey haired man from the party emerged. Tony frowned. The man looked a lot less gentlemanly now that he was wearing a holey black shirt, a hoodie, and dark sunglasses. Tony scowled. He didn’t know how this man fit into the crisis that his family was having.

“Rose, did I leave a guitar pick- Oh. Hello, Tylers.” The man slowly slid off his sunglasses and pocketed them. He looked around awkwardly. Tony instantly disliked his familiar behavior, and wondered just how long he had been staying at the flat with Rose.

_Where was the Doctor? He would send this guy packing._

“That’s not the Doctor!” Tony pulled away and snapped at his sister. “Who’s this then? The bloke from the party?” He felt a bad for snapping at her, but his guilt and confusion were feeding his rage further. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at the man, who looked anxious to be elsewhere.

Rose put her hand on his arm. “No, Ton', that’s the Doctor. He… well, he changes his face once in a while. Instead of dyin’, he-“

Her words didn’t make any sense. Things were only getting more confusing. _This_ wasn’t the Doctor. _This_ was not the man who held his hand when he was little and reassured him that everything would be all right. _This_ was not the man who had improved his mind and opened so many doors for him these past several years. _This_ was most definitely not the man he had turned to as he struggled to help his family through the grief they had all suffered. He began to tremble.

“Then why did our Doctor have to die?” Tony was loud and openly tearing up now, his anger triggering emotions that he couldn’t contain. “I don’t believe it! This guy doesn’t even act like him!”

The grey haired man exhaled noisily and started slowly backing away toward the spare room door. Tony wiped the tears away and scowled. _Coward._

He sat and watched with some satisfaction as his mum slapped the man, then confusion as she hugged him. She was calling him Doctor. His mum believed that _this_ was the Doctor. Perhaps his sister was telling the truth. Maybe this was her Doctor. But this wasn’t _his_ Doctor, who had either died or lived in Tony’s pocket, depending on how you looked at it. This man would never be _his_ Doctor. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and tried to focus on the conversation, past the debate about the man’s identity. His parents seemed to act like they would never see Rose again. He needed to clarify just what was going on.

He got up and walked to where Jackie, Pete and Rose had surrounded the… man. Tony interrupted, “Wait, but- you’re just travelling with him. You’ll be back, though, Rose, yeah? For holidays and the like?”

He felt numb as Rose explained she was going to another universe. It would be sealed off. She wouldn’t be returning. There was too much information, too many things happening at once. He was trying to process them all, but his attention snapped back to the present as the grey haired man was shouting at them all to “SHUT UP!” Tony frowned. _No. Definitely not the Doctor. Not his Doctor._

The man rattled on for a bit now, with his family interjecting with questions. It became clear that Tony’s Doctor had been researching how to send messages between the dimensions. Supposedly to contact this man, although the boy had trouble believing that. But now this Doctor was going to complete the technology so that Rose could communicate with them. Tony frowned. More postcards, only this time Rose would never actually return. He couldn’t help but feel like his family was fracturing in front of him.

It seemed as though Rose had intended to leave right away. He couldn’t quite believe it. He stared at the ground, at the walls, at anything but her.

“C’mere, you,” she said and hugged him. He hugged her back, and felt the tears coming back to his eyes. She smiled and said, “I’ll miss you. But I’ll tell you about all my adventures travelin’. Don’t make Mum and Dad crazy.” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “They’ll really need you. Even more, now. Remember that.”

Her words formed a bitter knot in his stomach. This was just like last time, tasking him with keeping their parents happy while she left. Only last time, she had just left emotionally, and this time it would be physically too. Why did she have no responsibility to keep them happy? And how was he supposed to accomplish this when it was obvious his parents’ hearts were breaking at her departure? He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want postcards sent from another dimension.

It seemed to him that it must be impossible that she would be gone forever. Hadn’t her Doctor come from another dimension to take her back? There must be a way to cross over. Staring at her with determination, he told her, “I’m going to find you again. Not sure how, yet, but I’ll do it.”

Rose nodded. “I believe you, Ton'.”

And just like that, she was gone. She didn’t have to see the aftermath. His mother was weeping, and his dad was pale and solemn, and there was nothing Tony could say or do to make them feel better. More family secrets came out after they got home. It seemed with Rose’s departure, their ability to pretend they were a normal family had crumbled. Jackie and Rose weren’t from this world. Pete had met them in their world, and returned with them here. Rose had gone back to find the Doctor, and returned with his duplicate, Tony’s Doctor. It all sounded like a story in a book, and if Tony hadn’t spent the last several years working on uncovering the strange secrets of Torchwood, he would have thought his parents were mad. He decided that it wasn’t time to share his own secrets yet.

After the day had ended and he was finally left to himself, he brought out the cube.

“Hello, Tony!” For the first time, Tony wondered what the Doctor was actually thinking behind that broad smile. Was it real?

“Hello, Doctor. I wanted to tell you that Rose… Rose is gone.”

Fear flashed across the Doctor’s face before being replaced with a more neutral expression. “Gone where? Holiday?”

Tony smiled bitterly. “You could say that. The Doctor came. The other Doctor. I’d say your doppelganger, but he didn’t look or sound anything like you. And she left. With him.”

To Tony’s astonishment, the Doctor’s smile grew so broad that it seemed it might break the boundaries of his face. “That’s wonderful news, Tony! Magnificent! Molto Bene! Makes my day! My year! My millennium!”

“Doctor?”

“Tony, he’s… me. Well, sort of me. Obviously not quite me, from your description. But in every way that matters, me me me. Well, perhaps I’m better looking. Was his hair as nice? Was he ginger? Nevermind, sorry, getting distracted. I hoped to reach him… did he find the file? About the communications device?”

“Um, no. Not ginger. Yeah, he found the file. He said he could complete the device in about a year, and they’d send us messages… from the other world.”

The Doctor spread his arms and spun in a circle, grinning madly. “Success! I knew something would work!” He paused in his constant stream of talk, noticing for the first time Tony’s grim expression. “What’s going on, little Tyler?”

“She’s… gone, Doctor. She’s gone. Like- she won’t be back. Not for Christmas, or for Easter, or for those stupid parties Mum and Dad have. She’s left with him and she is Never. Coming. Back.” Tony’s voice was flat.

“Ah. Yes. I see. Tony… Rose loves her family – Jackie, Pete, and you, Tony. Definitely you. But your family and home isn’t only the place you’re born into. As you grow up, you meet other people, and sometimes they become so important that they become your family too. Sometimes you need someone else, or to be somewhere else, for your life to truly be complete.”

He paused, then seeing Tony looked unconvinced, continued, “I left my planet, the one I was born on, because I never fit in there. I lived in a box that could cross time and space, and it became my home. I… I lost my family. The one I grew up with. But then I met Rose, and Rose became my family. And I suppose… I was hers, too. We didn’t really talk about it, but… I guess I always felt that way. Even before there was another one of me, she was my family. Don’t be angry at Rose, Tony. I couldn’t stop my death. But being with the other me… well, that seems the next best solution. He needs her. And she needs him. She loves all of you, but she's gone home.”

Tony frowned, a suspicion forming in his mind. “You left those plans for the communications device in case he showed up for her, didn’t you?”

The Doctor nodded. “I didn’t know this would happen. I really didn’t. But it seemed like it _could_ happen, and I wanted to be prepared.”

Tony stared. “You told me- you said you thought it was a good idea if I studied dimensional theory. Were you just hoping that I would find a way to bring her back to him?”

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck and looked down. “Ah. That. Well, I suppose, now that you bring it up… yes, I may have had some motives beyond your education. Not that I think it’s a bad idea for you to study. Dimensional theory is fascinating. You see, when you start examining the points at which a parallel world breaks off, there are a number of concepts that-“

Tony cut him off. “This was never about me. Your ‘gift of cleverness’. This cube. You just wanted to get Rose back to _him_.”

“Welllll, that’s not strictly true. I did want to help Rose. But if I could help you both at the same time, is that such a bad thing?”

Tony frowned and didn’t reply.

The Doctor sighed. “I know this is difficult for you. And I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. But your sister has found a path to happiness, and believe it or not, Pete and Jackie are also happy for her. You’ve got time, Tony Tyler, to find your own path to happiness. And I do want to help you. Rose has gone home, but… I’m still here for you. You’re my family too.”

Tony shoved the cube angrily in his pocket, the image vanishing abruptly. He stared out his window and up into the stars and shook his head. How could Rose have decided her home was with _him_? Why did she have to leave them? The boy’s head spun with confusion and grief, and he felt suddenly alone.


End file.
